Greta Berlin grew up in the United States, but moved to France in 2004 in protest of the re-election of President George W. Bush. Her first husband was Palestinian, and they started a nonprofit charitable organization, Pal Aid International, to send medicine and other supplies to Gaza and the West Bank. Greta also founded her own consultancy to train scientists and engineers how to explain their work to the media; some of the top engineering firms in the United States and Europe were her clients.
In 2003, after the murder of Rachel Corrie who had been working with the International Solidarity Movement, Greta joined the International. Solidarity Movement and went to Palestine, working in Bil’in, Jenin and Ramallah, where she staffed the organization’s media office. In 2006. she co-founded the Free Gaza Movement and was one of the primary spokespersons for Freedom Flotilla 1, a coalition that attempted to sail boats into Gaza after the Dignity and the Spirit of Humanity were halted by Israeli naval vessels. Greta is the co-author and co-editor of the 2012 book, “Freedom Sailors: The Maiden Voyage of the Free Gaza movement and How We Succeeded in Spite of Ourselves.”